April is
Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and a new survey finds 55 percent of U.S.
drivers admit to checking social media while behind the wheel.

Conducted by the online driving school DriversEd.com, the survey also produced some disturbing revelations in the age of ride-sharing: Sixty-eight percent of Americans say they’ve caught their driver checking social media, and 35 percent say they’ve caught their driver watching a video.

The
survey results are detailed in DriversEd.com’s “Distracted Driving and Social
Media Report.”

“There’s
no way around it: The data is startling,” said Laura Adams, safety and
education analyst at DriversEd.com. “I wish I could say the solution is as
simple as parents talking to their teen drivers about the dangers of distracted
driving. But parents are also the ones checking their Facebook, watching
YouTube videos and recording Instagram videos. We are in an ever-growing
distracted driving crisis, and the consequences are deadly.”

Adams
added: “For many drivers, health and safety takes a backseat to their likes and
shares.”

“Stuck
in traffic. Waiting at a stop sign. Stopped at a red light. These are all
situations where many drivers think it’s safe to send that text or scroll
through their social feed – but the realities of the road say otherwise,” said
Adams. “Pedestrian deaths, which are currently at a 30-year high, often occur
at intersections and crosswalks as the result of a driver being distracted.

“There
are many tips and techniques that drivers can implement in order to counter
distracted driving. However, the first – and often most difficult – step for
any driver is acknowledgement of the problem. After that comes the solutions.
At DriversEd.com, we are committed to spreading awareness of this perilous
issue and educating people on safe, smart driving behaviors, which include
putting your phone away while behind the wheel.”